Chronic Fatigue is just that.. extreme fatigue without any pain. My friend has this and whilst she finds it hard to function most days she isn't in any pain.

Fibromyalgia (FMS) is chronic pain, you will have tender points that hurt and burn when pressed, joint pain, stabbing shooting burning pain that moves around. Fogginess, memory issues.. the list goes on and on.

Very often we have both, CFS and FMS. like I do.

i have fms as well and have alot of other issues, such as a blood disorder and vascular weakness, I'm not sure that it has anything to do with the fms. Fms is hard to understand if you don't have it because it is hard to understand the amount of fatigue and pain you have. fms sufferers usually never REM sleep either so they dont replenish and the muscles spasm and are tender. I cant even switch to a different type of bra because of the paint points in my shoulders. It is frustrating because we look normal but find if hard to function. It is a chore just to get out of bed sometimes due to the sever hip and back pain. Anybody have any ideas for relief. I am fresh out and fed up.

I so agree with you bras are extremely uncomfortable. By evening I am whipping mine off as it just hurts too much to keep on, DH looks befuddled that a bra can hurt, my skin hurts it is hyper sensitive.

A good investment I made was buying a deep memory foam mattress topper. When I lay down on my pillow top bed my back and hips ached like crazy as they seemed to have to flatten to the shape of the bed ( flat! lol)

The memory foam supports your back and curves so I didn't have that problem. It helped a lot. Sleep was still an issue for me, sometimes I'd be so exhausted that I'd flake out only to wake up a couple of hours later and then be unable to sleep for hours.. I am sure you have been there too.

My back and hips are my worst areas too.. I still get pain in every joint in my body right down to my knuckles but the constant chronic pain is back and hips.

I have had FMS for 23 years and have tried a lot of things over time. Recently my friend suggested I try acupuncture, this wonderful Chinese girl does Undulating Acupuncture, she says it is different from traditional acupuncture and it works more quickly. I have had two treatments so far and it seems to be working! I will let you know how I get on.

We look well so people cannot understand why we complain so much! If only they could live a day in our shoes.. then maybe they'd have an inkling of what we have to put up with day in and day out.

But we will beat this!

that is my next question, can you have both together? my dr. says i have cfs, he did blood work and said i have epstein-barr and my numbers are very high but i also have muscle and joint pain and all the other symptoms that go along with fibromyalgia, we did not talk about fms, but next visit i will bring it up. thanks, kat

I have both FMS and CFS. I take Lyrica and do physical therapy. In the last few days I have developed horrendous hip pain. I feel like if I move the wrong way I will pop my hip out of the joint. I am losing my mind from the pain. I can only imagine how bad it would be if I wasn't on the Lyrica.